freddairy Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Hi everyone, I'm a newbie to the forum and I've been an SG owner now for about 26 hours. I'm a long time Fender guy, but last week I tried a SG 61 RI at the Guitar Center and fell in love. I ordered one on ebay and yesterday finally got it. I got it for 1200 bucks so I figured I got a decent deal, but I've been reading about the '61 SG VOS and it's long neck tenon and wondering should I have saved the extra 800 bucks and got a guitar that may last longer? I've done some reading online and couldn't come up with much information regarding tenons aside from the fact that there are short ones and long ones. I've also done numerous google searchers and found some people saying the '61 SG Reissue has a long tenon, while other searches have come up with the opposite answer. I took a picture of my SG's neck pocket and maybe someone can tell me finally if this thing has a long or short neck tenon. Also any other 61 Reissue owners here have any problems with this guitar? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameswithesg Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 ive had my 61 reissue for 2-3 years now, and i love it more and more every day, ive done a fair amount of custom installations turning mine into quite the heavy guitar (8-9 pounds) mush heavier now than before, and i too have always wondered about how strong the neck was (sure is a small heel) but i havent had any trouble yet (knocks on wood) and i have faith in my axe, as long as your guitar doesnt take any large drops or hits, you should have nothing to worry about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LPC Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 You appear to have a long tenon. Your's is even longer than this one, so these are probably Les Paul necks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameswithesg Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 You appear to have a long tenon. those look like les paul necks to me :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbomb76 Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Don't sweat it. Unless you're abusing the guitar or are a clutz, you have nothing to worry about, and if you're one of those folks who really babies their gear, that guitar'll outlive you. Enjoy, and welcome to the dark side! H-Bomb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Looks like long tenon. But don´t mix up SGs and Les Pauls. Compared to a Les Paul this is still short. Very short. At a Les Paul a part of the fingerboard is on the body as well. And due to the construction there is much more room to glue the neck in. But as far as worries go H-Bomb is right. If you´re using the guitar for what it was made for it will outlive you. Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddairy Posted January 25, 2009 Author Share Posted January 25, 2009 Thanks for the replies guys. I'll have to adjust to treating it like an instrument. I play my fenders with really light strings, and have an extremly light touch when I play, so I'm not worried about over stressing the guitar with my playing. However, I'm horrible at leaving my Fenders leaned up against amps at rehearsals and practices. Kurt, you say compared to a Les Paul it's a "short" tenon. I'm able to understand that. However, what sparked off my concern for this long vs short tenon was reading the specs about 61 Reissue VOS. On Gibson's sight they say in the specs that the VOS has a "long tenon". They don't say that on the plain old USA 61 RI's spec chart. So I'm thinking either the VOS is even more secure, or Gibson just decided to print that for the VOS spec chart to make it look more appealing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 You won´t have any problems then. I play my two SGs with .10 and .11 gauge strings. No problem with the neck. Leaning them against amps is also no problem, unless they´re likely to fall over or something or some-one could step or fall against them. A long tenon in general is when the neck goes right underneath the neck pickup, like shown in your picture. While most Les Pauls are actually having a short tenon (mine too). But as you can see in the picture of the necks that 80LPC sent, there´s still a lot of room for glue. Besides that a long tenon should give you a better sustain. But who could tell? All in all you picked one of the best guitars out there. An SG compared to most other guitars almost plays itself. Enjoy it. Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lous1952 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Gibson plays games with terminology on their guitars. There is no other way to make that neck joint and still have it be stable. The '61 RI and the Historic Custom Shop versions both have long tenons. They're less than honest with 335s too- the regular and Historic versions both have long tenons, but the regular version tenon is slightly narrower for wire feed purposes. In both cases the long tenon is mentioned for the Historics, but not for the others. That is done to establish greater perceived value for the more expensive Historics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbomb76 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Gibson plays games with terminology on their guitars. Hmmm....kinda' like using a term such as "VINTAGE ORIGINAL SPEC" for guitars that don't make the grade as "REISSUES" when compared to' date=' oh, I dunno, Lou's '65 there for instance! In both cases the long tenon is mentioned for the Historics, but not for the others. That is done to establish greater perceived value for the more expensive Historics. Yeah, they fooled me once with such marketing (when I sold my '99 SG '61 Reissues w/Vibrola to order "historically accurate" HISTORIC ones that, well, WEREN'T accurate in the slightest...I still regret doing that), but I won't get fooled again, to quote the Who. The only REAL things the Historics have going for them that the USA '61 doesn't are the Vibrola option, the "Les Paul" truss rod cover (which even still isn't something everyone will care about) and nicer inlays. Otherwise, sorry Gibson, it's NOT the great replica it should be. H-Bomb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddairy Posted January 25, 2009 Author Share Posted January 25, 2009 Yeah' date=' they fooled me once with such marketing (when I sold my '99 SG '61 Reissues w/Vibrola to order "historically accurate" HISTORIC ones that, well, WEREN'T accurate in the slightest...I still regret doing that), but I won't get fooled again, to quote the Who. The only REAL things the Historics have going for them that the USA '61 doesn't are the Vibrola option, the "Les Paul" truss rod cover (which even still isn't something everyone will care about) and nicer inlays. Otherwise, sorry Gibson, it's NOT the great replica it should be. H-Bomb[/quote'] Wow. This makes me feel slighter better about my 61 USA RI SG. Since I've been really reading about these I was starting to think I shoulda gone with the historically correct Historic model, but maybe this 61 RI will be alright now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbomb76 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Wow. This makes me feel slighter better about my 61 USA RI SG. Since I've been really reading about these I was starting to think I shoulda gone with the historically correct Historic model' date=' but maybe this 61 RI will be alright now.[/quote'] Nah, you'd have just paid more for the Historic case and a few other trivial differences. Until they REALLY start making the Historic SG's properly, the '61 and Angus are as good as you can get, and for the most part they're absolutely fine. Enjoy it, play the piss out of it and revel in the oozing aural goodness. :) H-Bomb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve167 Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Thanks for the great info guys! I've been a Strat player for pretty much my entire guitar "life," about 12 years. I've played the LP and SG numerous times at GC(sigh) though and have been planning on picking up a 61 RI SG. I, too, was a bit concerned about the neck joint on the 61 RI vs the Standard. There's practically zero heel and I really wanted to know if that tenon went under the neck PUP. Now I know -- it does. I kind of figured it had to since there's practically no space in front of the neck PUP before hitting the heel on the 61 RI neck. The 61 RI rules though -- best PUPs on any SG IMO. That tone, in the infamous words of a GC clerk, "will rip your face off!" But we already knew that, right!? Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Glad your happy with your guitar. Now stop obsessing play your guitar and not abuse it and you will be fine ;P ps i want a 61' RI SG too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddairy Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 Here's my '01's neck tenon... this one is MUCH more sloppy than that of the '06. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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